“It’s either stolen or given.”
I looked away. “They won’t see it that way. He ripped something from them, took something they considered their possession. He insulted my family, my fiancé. They won’t forget or forgive. They’ll retaliate. They’ll avenge me with brutal intent.”
“Do you want to be avenged?”
“Remo kidnapped me. He took everything from me.”
“Everything?” Kiara said curiously.
“Everything that used to matter.” I took my chopsticks again and continued eating, hoping Kiara got the hint that I didn’t want to talk anymore.
Remo came to my bedroom again that night. I had expected him and didn’t say anything as he dropped his gun holster on the ground then lay down beside me. I only regarded him, trying to understand him, myself, us. But I saw the same confusion in his eyes that I felt every time he was close.
We were both caught in an undercurrent, dragging us down into its unforgiving depth, unable to swim to the surface on our own. The only people who could save us only wanted to save one of us and see the other drown, but we were entangled. One of us would have to let go first to reach the surface.
And just like the night before, Remo’s mouth forced me into submission, lips and tongue and teeth, harsh one moment, gentle the next. He didn’t try to sleep with me, and for some reason it made things worse because I didn’t want him to hold back. I wanted him to take without consideration, without mercy. Because when he was something more than the monster I knew him to be, he took something I was even less willing to give.
He pressed against my back, breathing harshly, his erection a demanding presence pushing into me.
“When will you set me free?” I asked.
“Soon,” Remo murmured but didn’t elaborate. For some reason I heard the echo of the word “never.”
Never. Never. Never.
And it didn’t scare me as much as it should.
I considered asking about the sheets. Dante must have contacted Remo by now. But I was too scared, didn’t want to know their reaction. Remo’s lips brushed my shoulder blade.
“You always do that.”
Tension shot through his body as if I’d caught him committing a horrendous crime. “I think Danilo ruined your uncle’s plan to keep it cool.”
I stiffened as well. “What?”
Remo’s hold tightened, not allowing me to turn around. “Dante tried to pretend the sheets didn’t have the desired effect, but this afternoon Danilo called me, and he wasn’t as controlled as the cold fish wanted me to believe.”
I sucked in a shaky breath. “You talked to Danilo?”
“He was furious, murderous. He told me he’d cut my balls and dick off and feed them to me.” Remo paused and I tensed further. “And I told him that he could try but that it wouldn’t change the fact that I was the first man inside you.”
I wrenched myself out of his embrace, whirled around on him, kneeling on the bed.
Remo smiled darkly. My eyes caught the holster on the floor. I lunged, ripped the gun from the holster, released the safety, and pointed it at Remo’s head.
He rolled on his back, arms stretched out in surrender. There was no fear, no apprehension in his eyes.
I straightened on my knees beside him. “If you think I can’t go through with pulling the trigger, Remo, you are wrong. I’m not the girl from before who couldn’t cut your throat.”
Remo held my gaze. “I don’t doubt you can kill me, Angel.”
“Then why aren’t you scared?” I asked fiercely.
“Because,” he murmured, gripping my hips. I tightened my hold on the gun, but I allowed him to keep his hands on my skin. “I’m not scared of death or pain.”
Without lowering the gun, I straddled his stomach, and my core clenched at the feel of his muscles.
Remo’s eyes flashed with desire. I leaned forward, resting the barrel against his forehead. “If I kill you now, I’m free.”
“There are still my brothers and hundreds of loyal men who will hunt you down,” Remo said, his thumbs stroking my belly in a distracting way. I had already been wet from Remo’s earlier ministrations, but a new wave of arousal pooled between my legs now.
“But I’d still be free of you and that’s all I care about.”
Remo smiled darkly again. He lifted one arm and I tightened my finger on the trigger. “You can’t be free of me. Because I’m in there.” He touched my temple lightly, though it was another spot he should have touched because it was his presence in another place that scared me far more. “You will always remember that I’m the one you gifted yourself to for the very first time.”
I gave him the cruel smile he used on me whenever I got too close. “The memory will fade. Two times don’t matter after a while. I’ll sleep with Danilo for the rest of my life, and I’ll forget that there ever was a man before him.”